Respectable sci-fi

Rating: 6/10 (25 July 2003)

I had heard a lot about this film prior to seeing it but I still was not sure what to expect and after viewing it I came away thinking I watched something that was fairly good but certainly not anything I haven't seen before. Story starts out in England where a bunch of activists break into a lab to take pictures of the chimpanzees that are being experimented on and they let one go and it attacks the first person it comes across. Turns out the chimps are infected with a "Rage" virus that spreads by bites or contact with blood or saliva. 28 days later a bicycle messenger named Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up in the hospital all alone and starts walking the streets of London finding no one. He discovers in a church a bunch of zombies that start chasing him and he runs into two other survivors named Selena (Naomie Harris) and Mark (Noah Huntley) who help him. One night they are attacked again and Mark is cut. Selena quickly kills him and explains to Jim that you have only 10 to 20 seconds to kill someone after they are infected. Later they spot lights in a building and go to check it out and they find a man named Frank (Brendan Gleeson) and his teenage daughter Hannah (Megan Burns). Through a hand crank radio they listen to a radio signal that says all survivors should come to their compound for safety. The four of them pile into Franks cab and head to where the signal stated to go. Along the way Frank becomes infected and is shot by the military men outside of the compound. Inside they meet Major Henry West (Christopher Eccleston) who with his band of men have barricaded themselves into an area for survival. Soon they learn that Selena and Hannah are to be used for breeding purposes to continue the race. The film is directed by Danny Boyle who also helmed "Train-spotting" and he again shows a good visual flair in his films no matter how low budget. This film is shot with digital cameras and it gives it a realistic documentary feel that reminded me of some of Steven Soderbergh's films like "Traffic". The story is very reminiscent of "Last Man on Earth" and its remake "The Omega Man. In fact, in "The Omega Man" Charlton Heston teams up with a black female and that is exactly what happens here. The best performance in this film comes from Harris who shows a strong screen presence and it will be interesting to watch her career develop. She steals every scene she is in and she's a definite up and comer. This film doesn't really offer anything that we have not seen before and I kept waiting for something different to occur but it never happens. There are some questions that never get answered like why don't the zombies just feed on one another? And how long does it take before they die of starvation? This film has nothing new to offer but it is competently made with an effective visual style that enhances the many quiet scenes that take place. Along with the performance of Harris I found this an adequate science fiction film that fans of this genre should definitely check out. Nothing thought provoking, but effective in its own way.